consulting a plastic surgeon. “If the consultation goes well, I will talk to my boyfriend and my parents about it,” she says. “It’s a pretty big operation.” Indeed, it is. While the most common procedures are operations to make Caucasian-style double-eyelids (costing $700 – £422 – to $1,500) and nose jobs ($1,500 to $4,500), many patients, like Xu, want “facial contouring” – invasive surgery that involves shaving or chopping away bones. One particularly common procedure – which Hong, the surgeon, calls “super smile surgery” – is for patients who think their chins are too prominent, and involves cutting sections out of their jawbones. It takes only three hours, but the recovery takes six months. Hong says the most common risk post-surgery is patient dissatisfaction. “This is not a clothing store where you can shop for the clothes Jun wears,” Hong says. “When a patient comes in and says they want to look like her, we go through a consultation... and try to find a halfway point.” The plastic surgery craze creates big business in China, too. Chinese travel agencies offer packages that combine several days of sightseeing with longer periods of plastic surgery. Ocean International Travel Service offers a typical five-day tour for about $1,000, surgeries not included. The plastic-surgery industry has become so dominant in Gangnam that some intersections feature clinics on all four corners. The underpasses to the subway station are wallpapered with ads for cosmetic enhancements. Sitting up in a bed in a recovery room at BK, with a blue mask over her mouth and a drip in her arm, Chen Mao says she started aging more rapidly when she turned 35, three years ago, and wanted to do something about it. She had fat from her midriff injected into her face to smooth out the lines. “I want to look more youthful,” Chen said, patting her bandages. “I know that Korean celebrities’ beauty is not natural, and I know that they all have their surgeries done in Gangnam. “So I wanted to be like them and invest my time and money here, too.” © Washington Post
첫댓글 중국에서도 성형열풍이 큰 사업으로 만들어지고 있다. 중국 여행사들은 성형의 더 긴 기간과 함께 관광을 하기 위한 사오일의 기간이 합쳐진 패키지 상품을 제공한다. 성형산업은 강남의 몇몇 사거리를 보면 4개의 코너에 있는 건물에 모두 병원들이 있을 정도로 강남 지역에서 가장 지배적이게 되었다. 강남 지하철역으로 가는 지하도에도 화장품 광고들이 벽에 덮여져 있는 것을 볼 수 있다.
Chen Mao는 3년 전인 35세가 되었을 때 부터 점점 더 빠르게 늙어졌다고 했고 그것에 대해서 빨리 어떻게 해야겠다는 생각을 했다고 말했다.
"저는 더 예뻐지고 어려보이고 싶어요","한국 유명인들은 자연미인이 아니라는 것을 저는 알고있고 그들이 성형을 강남에서 한다는 걸 알고 있어요." "그래서 저는 그들과 똑같이 되고 싶고 저의 시간과 돈을 여기에 투자하고 싶습니다."